just

• jes
• jes'
• jest

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʒʌst/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌst

From Middle English juste, borrowed from Old French juste, from Latin iūstus (“just, lawful, rightful, true, due, proper, moderate”), from Proto-Italic *jowestos, related to Latin iūs (“law, right”); ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂yew-. Compare Scots juist (“just”), Saterland Frisian juust (“just”), West Frisian just (“just”), Dutch juist (“just”), Low German jüst (“jüst”), German just (“just”), Danish just (“just”), Swedish just (“just”).

just (comparative juster or more just, superlative justest or most just)

1. Factually right, correct; factual.

   It is a just assessment of the facts.

2. Rationally right, correct.
3. Morally right; upright, righteous, equitable; fair.

   It looks like a just solution at first glance.

   • c. 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1, Act, Scene ,

     My lord, we know your grace to be a man

     Just and upright.

   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Colossians 4:1,

     Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.

   • 1744, Alexander Shiels [i.e., Alexander Shields], “Period VI. Containing the Testimony through the Continued Tract of the Present Deformation, from the Year 1660 to this Day.”, in A Hind Let Loose: Or, An Historical Representation of the Testimonies of the Church of Scotland, for the Interest of Christ; with the True State thereof in All Its Periods: [...], Edinburgh: Reprinted by R. Drummond and Company, and sold by William Gray bookbinder in the Grassmarket, and several others, &c., OCLC 723488025, pages 167–168:

     Here is a Proclamation for a Prince: that proclaims him in whoſe name it is emitted [James II of England], to be the greateſt Tyrant that ever lived in the world, and their Revolt who have diſowned him to be the juſteſt that ever was.

   • 1901, H. G. Wells, The First Men in the Moon, Chapter 23,

     Looking back over my previously written account of these things, I must insist that I have been altogether juster to Cavor than he has been to me.

4. Proper, adequate.

• right, correct
• righteous, equitable
• proper, adequate

• unjust

• justly
• justness

• justice

just (not comparable)

1. Only, simply, merely.

   Plant just a few tomatoes, unless you can freeze or dry them.

   He calls it vermilion, but it's just red to me.

   • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 8, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:

     Philander went into the next room, which was just a lean-to hitched on to the end of the shanty, and came back with a salt mackerel that dripped brine like a rainstorm. Then he put the coffee pot on the stove and rummaged out a loaf of dry bread and some hardtack.

   • 2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 52:

     From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. […]   But viewed from high up in one of the growing number of skyscrapers in Sri Lanka’s capital, it is clear that something extraordinary is happening: China is creating a shipping hub just 200 miles from India’s southern tip.

   • 2013 June 14, Sam Leith, “Where the profound meets the profane”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 37:

     Swearing doesn't just mean what we now understand by "dirty words". It is entwined, in social and linguistic history, with the other sort of swearing: vows and oaths.

2. (sentence adverb) Used to reduce the force of an imperative; simply.

   Just follow the directions on the box.

3. (speech act) Used to convey a less serious or formal tone

   I just called to say "hi".

4. (speech act) Used to show humility.

   Lord, we just want to thank You and praise Your Name.

5. (degree) absolutely, positively

   It is just splendid!

6. Moments ago, recently.

   They just left, but you may leave a message at the desk.

   • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 8, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:

     Philander went into the next room […] and came back with a salt mackerel […] . Next he put the mackerel in a fry-pan, and the shanty began to smell like a Banks boat just in from a v'yage.

7. By a narrow margin; closely; nearly.

   The fastball just missed my head!

   The piece just might fit.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 14, in The China Governess‎:

     Nanny Broome was looking up at the outer wall.  Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime.

8. Exactly, precisely, perfectly.

   He wants everything just right for the big day.

   • John Dryden

     And having just enough, not covet more.

   • Sir Philip Sidney

     The god Pan guided my hand just to the heart of the beast.

   • William Shakespeare

     To-night, at Herne's oak, just 'twixt twelve and one.

   • 2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70:

     Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster.

• (only): merely, simply; see also Thesaurus:merely
• (recently): freshly, lately, newly
• (by a narrow margin): barely, hardly, scarcely; see also Thesaurus:slightly
• (exactly): on the dot, smack-dab

• just about
• just another pretty face
• just as well
• just because
• just ducky
• just folks
• just in case
• just in time
• just-in-time
• just kidding
• just like that
• just now
• just-so story
• just the same
• just what the doctor ordered
• only just
• that's just me

just

1. (slang) Expressing dismay or discontent.

Variation of joust, presumably ultimately from Latin iuxta 'near, besides'.

just (plural justs)

1. A joust, tournament.

just (third-person singular simple present justs, present participle justing, simple past and past participle justed)

1. To joust, fight a tournament.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Fairfax to this entry?)

• just in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• just in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

• UJTs, juts

From Old Occitan, from Latin iūstus, jūstus, from Proto-Italic *jowestos, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂yew-.

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /ˈʒust/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒust/

just (feminine justa, masculine plural justs or justos, feminine plural justes)

1. fair; just
2. perfectly, almost perfectly

• justament
• preu just
• tot just

• injust
• injustícia
• justícia

just

1. justly

• “just” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

From Middle Low German just or Swedish just. Possibly from German just. See also justament

just

1. exactly, precisely, just

   Sa tulid just parajal ajal.

   You came just at the right time.

2. recently, just now, just

   Ma jõudsin just koju.

   I just got home.

3. really (softens what has been said)

   Ta pole just töökas mees.

   He isn't much of a worker.

From Swedish just

• IPA^(key): /ˈjust/, [ˈjus̠t̪]

just

1. (colloquial, dialectal) just, exactly, precisely, perfectly

• aivan
• juuri
• ihan
• tarkalleen
• täsmälleen

From Latin iūstus, jūstus.

just

1. just, right, correct, proper
2. exact
3. adequate
4. apt

• justeapont
• justeben

• justâ
• juste
• justece
• justificâ
• justizie

• Audio

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just

1. (elevated) just

   just in dem Moment als ... ― just at the moment as ...

• gerade
• (archaic) justament

• just in Duden online

• IPA^(key): [just]

just tr., 1st conj., pres. jūtu, jūti, jūt, past jutu

1. to feel (to perceive with one's sense organs)

   just aukstumu, karstumu, sāpes ― to feel cold, heat, pain

   tā, ka nejūt zemi zem kājām ― such that s/he doesn't feel the earth under his/her feet (= very fast)

2. to sense
3. to palp
4. to have a sensation

prefixed verbs:

• izjust
• pajust
• sajust

other derived terms:

• justies

just

1. third-person singular past historic of gesir

Borrowed from French juste, Latin jūstus, iūstus.

• IPA^(key): /ʒust/

just m or n (feminine singular justă, masculine plural juști, feminine and neuter plural juste)

1. just, correct

• drept, adevărat, echitabil

• audio

  (file)

just

1. just; quite recently; only moments ago
2. just; only, simply
3. exactly, precisely

   Just nu

   Right now (At this precise moment)

   Det var just vad jag ville ha!

   That's exactly what I wanted!